Bait Tank? or Mad Science Experiement. (Video)

Some times I get carried away. This one is a little on the long side.

Bait tank set up 2009

I say mad science experiment. Does it ever get too hot in the summer for them?

Very cool Larry!

How deep are the intakes for your Aquaclear filters? It looks like there is a section of white hose attatched to one of them. Will it lift water that far?

Sweet vid, but yep, Mad Science. Those bullies have never breathed in water so clean. Maybe that’s your edge. Ticks them off getting tossed into the Minnesota and they struggle all the more, drawing in those Flats.

I think that’s the same set up Sailor Jerry’s uses to make its rum. delicious!

Its missing the most important part.

A Decorative Bubbler.

Nice set up! That is quite the project and well planned out.

Very good explanation of your system Mad Larry!

Dang, Pretty neat setup! That is definately a little more labor intensive than my setup. I routed the flow from my stock tank to an elevated grow bed with media for a small garden. It operates fine but needs some tweeking with on/off times and getting bacteria to begin breaking down the waste into nutrients the plants can use. Right now its constant flow, and more or less a mechanical filter.

NICE TANK!

Thanks Mates…. As far as heat build up there are a few ways to help control the temp.
1. water changes helps to a certain extent, it will bring water temps down to mid to lower 60’s for a little while.
2. Otherwise, I freeze gallon jugs of water and put in to assist in cooling. I use a total of 4 rotating 2 every morning from tank to freezer.
3. It also helps to cover the tank. I will be doing that for sure, when we hit those two really hot days the temps rose considerably and I lost a fair amount of water to evaporation.

Aqua clears do draw up from the bottom of the tank. I have the on the bottom and then the other is set about midway up the tank to catch suspended particles. The the filter that pulls from the bottom gets plugged faster.

As far as labor intensive, It was a little work getting set up. Keep in mind that I didn’t do this all at one time. Though I will admit that I do have a considerable amount of time overall over the last few years. But I have to say its almost as fun as fishing, and I’ve found that I can go hands off the tank for 7 days with 100 bullies and I have not had a casualty yet this season. Now granted its been cool and pretty easy to maintain. It sure makes it easy with out the water changes every other day, and the overall management.

As far as Sponge Bob!?!?!?! My 5 year old would go nuts and probably put all those bullies into cardiac arrest if there was anything associated with Sponge Bob.
He wouldn’t leave them alone.

That is a sweet set-up! My tank broke this winter and need a new one…the old freezer would work great.

Thanks for posting that.

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Dang, Pretty neat setup! That is definately a little more labor intensive than my setup. I routed the flow from my stock tank to an elevated grow bed with media for a small garden. It operates fine but needs some tweeking with on/off times and getting bacteria to begin breaking down the waste into nutrients the plants can use. Right now its constant flow, and more or less a mechanical filter.

NICE TANK!

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Lets see your Aquaponics set-up!!!!!!!!!

Larry – W O W – Nice job!

Definitely mad scientist!!!

Very cool video to watch and learn from! Thanks Larry!

Jami

Very cool system Mr. Flatcaster. I would say just a very smart catguy

Must know them or have cool neighbors. Mine would have ratted me out by now. Or worse, the utility meter reading guys and gals who do not bother to take a closer look at what it is.

Nice set-up and thanks for share!

now all you need is a white lab coat and some crazy hair!

That is a great idea and your family should survive the nuclear winter

how much is bait?

Larry, pretty sweet. I would assume the orange tint to the water is due to the fact that the outside spigots are not routed through your softener and therefore there is significant iron in the water due to the fact that all the south of the river suburbs are exclusively on well water. It won’t affect the fish at all.

Pretty sweet set up and I am still in progress on mine. The biofilter in for my tank used the carpet padding successfully for all of last year but had to be trashed at the end of the season. I am looking for a material that is a little more “cleanable”. I did get a little foaming initially from the glue used to stick all the individual patches of the padding together….but it went away after a couple weeks and didn’t seem to cause any casualties to my bait. The biofilter probably isn’t doing much at 60 to 65 degree water temps anyway. They really start to work great at that mid 70’s mark. Bullheads can handle the warmer temps as long as those nitrates are being converted to nitrites….and hopefully eventually to Nitrogen gas if there are some anaerobic zones in the filter (which there naturally shoud be).

Pretty sweet setup though…..wouldn’t be much of a stretch to get that garden elevated and convert that whole deal into an aquaponic vegie garden.

…and now I know why your display name is wastewaterguru!

BTW…my tank drains over to the neighbors lawn. He’s still wondering why that area of grass needs mowing twice as often as the rest of his yard.

I don’t have a garden.

If you guys really want your garden to grow, skip the bait water. Bury a flathead or a few channels in your garden.

OK, instead toss a few bullheads instead…better? Ma and pa used to make me bring a few bullies home when I went fishing in the spring up at Moore Lake. Works wonders. I usually bury one next to the sunflowers I grow.

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OK, instead toss a few bullheads instead…better? Ma and pa used to make me bring a few bullies home when I went fishing in the spring up at Moore Lake. Works wonders. I usually bury one next to the sunflowers I grow.

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Its where I bury my casualties…. Just don’t tell the Mrs. I’ve been working on her to start weeding the garden…. Just don’t want to give her any excuses not too.
I try to use a systematic process so I don’t bury over ones that have been laid to the grave this year.

My wife lets me do a lot of things but…………I don’t know. No filter on the bucket? Do they last long?

It’s cool that Larry can really get away with that kind of project. I’ve always thought I could do it if I made the lawn pond.

How long does it take to use 100? It’s neat to use the water for something. If you pumped the water up to a bucket or some container, you could grow willow shoots or cattails. I think the bubbler is redundant, the water falling out of the aquaclears and the water falling through the barrels probably gives you all you need, unless your’re worried about 3 pumps failing (and sometimes they don’t restart when the power goes off and comes back on).

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I think the bubbler is redundant, the water falling out of the aquaclears and the water falling through the barrels probably gives you all you need, unless your’re worried about 3 pumps failing (and sometimes they don’t restart when the power goes off and comes back on).

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That’s what the bubbler is for. The aqua clears can prime them selves eventually but it takes a bit.

I take the bubbler in the boat to keep the bait on air…. When I’m not fishing I’ve found if you don’t use the bubblers regularly the diaphragm gaskets dry rot and they fail.

The bucket??? are you talking about the quarentine bucket. They can last as long as the others… Depending on their health… they are questionable to begin with, and they are the first to go out in the boat. I put bait that has been used in there also, I expect them to cack before the others and they usually do, it makes it easy to manage instead of contaminating your tank. Casualties really pollute the tank quick.

Its determined by numbers. W/O a filter you just have to clean the slime and junk off the sides

Just a thought on the deep freezer. Could you cycle it on once in a while to keep the water cool when it is hot out?

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Just a thought on the deep freezer. Could you cycle it on once in a while to keep the water cool when it is hot out?

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Yes you can… I have done this over the last two years… One issue with the tank is that the water pressure (amount of water) distorts the tank a little bit and causes for some uneven cooling. THat takes a lot of energy to cool water in the heat of the day..
It has been quicker to use gallon container frozen.

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How long does it take to use 100?

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About 2-3 weeks

I have only been out about 5 times this season, but have burned threw about 130-150 already. Gifting, kick back to the captain(s) and personal use they can go fast. If I get a ride in a boat I always bring the bait (well unless told not to ) and leave what is left to the captain as a gratis. I figure about 55-60 bullies this year went to this so far. I gave out a bunch to some guys who where going out after the BPCL and have set some up who e-mailed me in need of some and where willing to meet up in the north west metro.

This time a year they go quicker and I am sure quicker for some others than they have for me. In about 45 minutes I am going down to get another 60 or so fresh stock for the weekend. You can never have enough bullies man

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How long does it take to use 100?

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Depends…I’ll take about 24 along each night to make sure I don’t run out. So about 4 or 5 nights for me. (two anglers)

We are only going to need one tonight buddy!! Since we don’t drink in your boat, we’ll have to head in to celebrate my 50lber!!

Larry, I didn’t see any Chubs or your favorite Bait Suckers in the tank. I assume they can co-exist without problems in this set-up? If so what is the safe limit of Suckers or total multi specie fish you can accommodate?

I’ll hang up and listen..

I’m going to guess once dark, the chubs would acquire wings and fly out of that tank! Darn things!

**POST DELETED** sorry gang, nice bait tank Larry.

If I knew this person, I’d rip on them for obvious reasons, but since I don’t, I’ll just bite my tongue and be thankful I’m going fishing tonight. Once in the boat with bullheads soaking, I can then start full on ribbing of the captain!!

Sorry Kooty…

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ribbing on the captain

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No captain/coke either.

I’m guessing that was a picture of my father in law…but this is a bit off topic too.

Larry, do you have a screen or something for the flying creek chubs?